


don't put your life in someone's hands (they're bound to steal it away)

by paragraphrhymer



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F, Magicatra AU, Not Beta Read, a little angsty, episode 5 au, i have no idea what im doing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:27:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24418099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paragraphrhymer/pseuds/paragraphrhymer
Summary: Magicatra AU.S4 ending. Adora stays behind and gets stuck in Horde Prime's ship with Glimmer.(Basically, an AU to the "Save the Cat" episode, based off of @etoari1's beautiful drawing, and @forestfigment, @framk_ie, and @gabdlcrz_'s awesome hcs.)
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 229





	don't put your life in someone's hands (they're bound to steal it away)

“I only want peace and order.”

“Then you will leave us alone?”

Glimmer wants to scream, she wants to run away, but she knows this is one of those situations where you can’t show any sign of fear.

This person—man, robot, she doesn’t understand what or _who_ he is—is looking at her like she’s a cockroach, and he is about to step on her.

(Glimmer knows it’s her fault that she is in this position, that if she hadn’t let herself get tricked, that if she had _just_ listened to Catra and Bow, then this would have never happened.

She hopes to God and whoever is out there listening that she can live long enough to tell them they were right.)

“Oh, no, child.” He laughs. “I can not let words spread of my brother’s botched conquest. For order to thrive, this whole mess must be whiped away. Beginning with you.”

He begins to walk closer to her, and before Glimmer can even think to stop him, he has his hand placed on her face.

His hand, his cold, _metallic_ hand. He’s not even human,—or at least his body isn’t—and yet here he is, looking at her like he knows her, like he knows her every dirty little secret and closet skeleton.

But then, someone else speaks up.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. You need her.” It’s Adora. And for the first time since she’s known her, Glimmer is glad to hear her speak.  
  


Horde Prime’s attention goes towards Adora, and Glimmer can see a gleam in his eyes, almost as if he was expceting to see her. “Oh? And who might you be?”  
  


Adora walks towards him, and Glimmer expects her to attack him, to do something, but instead, she does something else entirely different than what Glimmer had in mind.  
  


She _kneels_. Adora places one knee into the ground, and bows her head to Horde Prime.  
  


Glimmer wants to cry out, but she is too terrified to actually say anything. She doesn’t understand what’s happening, but all she knows is that there is something terribly wrong with this setting.  
  


(Glimmer’s fought Adora multiple times, and she’s never shown weakness. Not to her, not to Bow, and not to Catra –or, at least, not while they are around.

And this? This scares Glimmer to death; because if an Adora is willing to bow down to this man, then it means the worst, it means they are in the worst case scenario.)  
  


“My name is Adora. I am Hordak’s right hand; first in command.”  
  


Horde Prime stares at her for a few seconds, and then he laughs. His laugh makes Glimmer shiver in disgust. “Oh, you are _that_ Adora.” He gestures at her. “Rise, child. Now, what were you saying?”  
  


Adora rises, and once Glimmer takes a look at her, she realizes what’s wrong with this situation.  
  


Adora is nervous. Glimmer can see it in the way she clenches her jaw, in the way she is keeping her fists closed so her hands don’t shake, in the way her throat is gulping. It’s an act, and if Glimmer can see through it, she is sure Horde Prime can as well.  
  


“This place, Etheria? It’s a weapon, a living time bomb, waiting to be activated.” Adora points at Glimmer, and she has to restrain herself from shivering. “And her? She is one of the key components to activating it, so you are going to need her.”  
  


_You are lying.  
  
_

Adora is _bluffing_ , and Glimmer can tell. Adora doesn’t know the first thing about magic, and she certainly doesn’t know the first thing about the Heart of Etheria. She can understand why Adora would lie to save herself, but what Glimmer doesn’t understand is why Adora would lie to save her, of all people.  
  


(It makes her wonder, even if it’s just for a second, if the Adora that Catra’s told her about really exists. An Adora that looks out for her friends, that cares for them; an Adora that _protects_ people instead of hurting them.  
The thought only lasts for about five seconds before she remembers that this is the person that has spent the last three years attacking her home and terrorizing her people, a person who isn’t even capable of seeing what’s wrong with her actions.  
  


She decides that this is probably part of one of Adora’s plans, that she is probably using her as a distraction and waiting for the right moment to attack.)  
  


“What are you—“  
  


“Of course, both of you are _guests_ here.” Before Glimmer can protest, Horde Prime interrupts her. “I am honored to have both a Queen and a high commander on my ship.” His tone is mocking, and she can tell he is enjoying every second of it. He takes a slow bow, and plasters a smirk on his face. “Please, allow my brothers to show you to your _rooms_.”  
  


Out of what seems to be thin air, two _brothers_ appear by Glimmer’s side –she doesn’t really understand what they are; robots? Clones? They look exactly the same and don’t appear to have any facial expression at all—and take her arms before she can do anything about it. They instantly begin to haul her away to whatever her room must be.  
  


“Hey! Don’t touch me!”  
  


“Shut up.” Glimmer turns around, and sees that Adora is in the exact same position as her; they are both being dragged away together, except that Adora isn’t struggling to get the guards off of her. “Just play along, okay?”  
  


“What?”  
  


“I’m trying to keep both of us safe. Play along, and you will be fine.”  
  


The more they walk, the more confused Glimmer gets. She’s never been good at directions –Bow has always been the one with the maps, always been the one who suggests where they should go next—and the ship looks exactly the same no matter what corridor they are in, no matter how many turns they take. She wants to protest, she wants to ask Adora what the hell she means and what on earth she is planning on doing, but she can’t right now; not when they are surrounded by Horde Prime’s so called brothers and being taken somewhere unknown.  
  


They take a turn for the millionth time, and when she turns around to check on Adora, she realizes that the other girl is no longer there; once they finally arrive to her room and lock her there, Glimmer realizes that maybe this time she really won’t be able to get away.

* * *

Glimmer doesn’t know how long it’s been, but some time passes before she sees Adora again.

She’s tried everything to get out of this room—this room, that is meant to look comfortable, that is meant to look appealing, to look _nice_ ; Glimmer knows this is all mockery, that this is all some sort of sick joke to Horde Prime, and it makes her hate this and him even more—, from trying to teleport, to screaming and throwing chairs at the force field that is keeping her from leaving.  
  


None of that works, of course, but a while after she throws the chair at it for the third time, Adora shows up behind the force field.  
  


“Hey.”  
  


For some reason, the sight of Adora angers her even more than she already is. “What are you doing here?”  
  


Adora shrugs, looking almost uncertain. “I’m checking up on you, I guess.”  
  


“ _Checking up on me?_ What, are we friends now?”

“Never.” A bitter laugh and a head shake are quick to follow. “I can see you are still in one piece. This was a waste of time anyway, I’m leaving.”  
  


But before Adora can leave, the word “wait” is already slipping past Glimmer’s lips. She doesn’t understand why she’s asking Adora to stay, but all she knows right now is that she doesn’t want to be alone. She can’t be alone.  
  


(During her entire life, she’s always have someone by her side, no matter what. Be it her mom, or Bow, or even Catra. She’s never been truly alone, not like this, and it makes Glimmer feel powerless, weak even.  
She doesn’t know what’s going to happen next, what Horde Prime is going to do to her, but what she does know is that she doesn’t want to face it all on her own.  
  


Never in a million years had she thought she would need the company of a _Horde soldier_ , and yet here she is. But as they say, desperate times call for desperate measures, right?)  
  


“Please, stay.”  
  


Adora cocks her head to the side and narrows her eyes—in which Glimmer assumes is meant to be a threatening manner, but to her it looks more of a puppy-like gesture than anything else—probably analyzing if there is some ulterior motive to her words, but she ends up sighing and sitting down, her back facing Glimmer.  
  


Glimmer sits down in the exact same way, and if it weren’t for the force field, their backs would be touching right now. She is kind of glad that isn’t the case.

Adora sighs. “Listen, I’m trying to think of something, okay? Of a plan, of something to get us out of here; I don’t know how exactly, but I’ll figure it out.”

“ _Us?_ When did we become a team?”

“We never did. But leaving you behind that—that wouldn’t be right.”

Glimmer’s eyebrows rise, and she has to stop herself from scoffing. Is she just expected to believe this? That Adora would try and save her? That a Horde soldier would try and do the _right thing_?

_Not a chance in Hell._

“Excuse me if I have a hard time believing that, _Force Captain_.”

“Of course you don’t.” She can hear Adora getting up before even finishing the sentence. “I don’t know what I was expecting; once a princess, always a princess, right?”

Glimmer grumbles. “Oh shut up, you absolute—“

Adora whistles, interrupting her. “Oh, watch the language, _princess_. Wouldn’t want you saying anything you’d regret later on.” She pronounces the last word with so much contempt that it actually takes Glimmer a second to process it—she can actually feel the emotion on Adora’s voice, she can feel how much hatred this girl feels towards her, towards _all_ of the princesses; and, even though not for the first time, it makes her wonder why.

_Do you feel this way about Catra too, now that she is a princess?_

“You are a lost cause. All of you are.” Glimmer doesn’t turn around; she doesn’t want to face Adora, she doesn’t want to face her taunting and she most certainly doesn’t want to face the reality of the situation she is in right now. “Oh, and also? I’m not Force Captain anymore, but I think it’s cute that you remember what my first rank was.”

She can hear Adora’s footsteps getting farther and farther away, but this time Glimmer doesn’t ask her to stay.

And by the time she turns around and finds herself, once again, with nothing but plain walls and a force field around her, Glimmer comes upon the thought that perhaps she should have listened to what Adora had to say.

* * *

Dinner with Horde Prime happens, and it’s a complete fiasco. In less than half an hour, he manages to subtly threaten—key word: subtly. He didn’t outright threaten her, or even ask for information, but he showed her a live camera of her friends getting attacked: what else was she supposed to do but panic?—Glimmer into spilling vital information about the Heart of Etheria.

So, yes, she just screwed things up for everyone. Again.

She needs to decide what to do next; she needs to think for one second, and try to figure out a way out of this. She’s great at missions, so she figures that if she takes one second, she will come up with a way to get out of this room, out of this _ship_.

No, _wrong_.

Glimmer was never great at missions, she’s always sucked at them,—cue, why her mother never left her go to one on her own—it’s always been Bow who’s helped her get through them. She knows that without him, she probably wouldn’t have made it out of half of the missions she ever went on.

She knows she told herself she would not wallow in self-pity, but there’s not much she can do around here. She knows that her friends wouldn’t act the same way she is doing right now, but, she genuinely can’t figure out what to do next.

Perhaps, she should—

It’s the sound of the force field opening that finally interrupts her thoughts, and when she turns around, she finds no other than Adora, cocky smirk on her face, staff in one hand and an _actual hand_ in her other one.

“What are you doing standing there like a moron?”

“Adora? How did you get in here? Is that a _hand_?”

Adora shrugs and walks in like nothing’s even happening. “I noticed this place works with a very nice technologically advanced system, only responding to fingerprints and such. So I just cut off one of the guard’s hands and used it to get inside.” She throws the hand at Glimmer. “You should keep it, I think it would make for a nice souvenir.”

Glimmer throws the hand away without even glancing at it. “Adora, what is going on?”

Adora’s countenance becomes serious all of the sudden. “It’s Horde Prime. He wants to get She-ra, he want to get _Catra_. He wants to—he wants to annihilate her.”

“He won’t. He _can’t_.” Glimmer shakes her head. “He doesn’t know where she is, he can’t get to her.”

Adora laughs, and it’s the most bitter laugh Glimmer’s ever heard her let out. “Please. We are talking about Catra here. Do you really think she isn’t going to come and get you? You are bait. Horde Prime is going to use you as bait.” Adora extends her hand towards Glimmer, offering it for her to hold onto to. “And that’s exactly why we need to get you out of here _now_.”

Glimmer doesn’t think twice about it. She grabs Adora’s hand and lets herself be dragged to wherever it is the other girl is taking them.

* * *

“Get in there, quick.”

The guards are right behind their tails; Adora’s staff is the only thing keeping the doors closed right now, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to be able to hold on for much longer.

Glimmer is quick to get into the capsule, and she is expecting Adora to get in there as well, but suddenly the doors to it close.

“Hey!” She hits the doors with her fists. “What are you doing?”

Adora pays her no mind at first, focused on the panel before her. She looks at it, concentrated, and starts pressing the buttons on it; a computer voice states something out loud, but Glimmer doesn’t catch what it says in time, too focused on Adora. “I told you I was going to come up with a plan, didn’t I? Well, here it is: I’m getting you out of here.”

“What? You are saving me?” This doesn’t make any sense, Adora, saving her? Letting her get away, while she herself stays behind?

“No way.” Adora shakes her head. “I’m doing this for Catra, not for you. I was wrong this whole time and I can’t let Horde Prime get his hands on her; not after everything, and _especially_ not if I can do something about.”

_“Connection established.”_

“Hello?” It takes Glimmer a millisecond to realize that’s Catra’s voice, and that Adora has somehow managed to reach out to them.

“Catra? About time you picked up.”

“Adora? Is that you? What—what is going on?”

Adora half smiles, not taking her eyes off the panel and not stopping on whatever she’s doing for a second. “Funny, I thought you’d be more happy to hear from me.” She clicks her tonghe. “Listen, I’m sending Glimmer off to you.” The sounds from behind the door are getting progressively louder, and Glimmer knows that within the next few minutes _they_ will be inside the room with them.

“You are with Glimmer? Adora, what is this? What are you doing?” Desperation is palpable in Catra’s voice, and Glimmer can’t even imagine how confused she must be.

“I don’t know your exact location, but I can get her to your quadrant; though, you _must_ be there to catch her.” At the exact same time Adora presses the last button on the panel, the staff breaks in half and the doors fly open, allowing pandemonium to get in.

The guards are quick to get their hands on Adora, but she puts on a fight. Glimmer hits the doors, she screams and she tries to do something, she tries, she really does, but it’s all useless; for some reason she can’t use her magic in here, and without it she is useless.

“Catra, I’m sorry!” One of the guards has Adora, and she is struggling to get out of his grip but they prove to be much stronger then her. “I’m sorry I didn’t look out for you!”

“Adora! Adora, what is going on!?” 

And just like that, the capsule ejects itself and the last thing Glimmer sees is Adora being surrounded, and a very distressed Catra calling out Adora’s name.

It’s not until later on that Glimmer realizes Adora’s intentions had always been to help her escape, but that in the end, she had run out of time and been forced to make a choice.

And against all odds and logic, Adora had ended up choosing Catra, and in consequence, ending up choosing to seal her own fate in one of the worst ways imaginable.

**Author's Note:**

> my tw is @paragraphrhymer, in case anyone wants to come scream about catradora with me


End file.
